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An Oldie… But Not a Goodie… How an Old, Old Law Turned Into an Outrageous Miscarriage of Justice

California Law… FAIL.

California Court Declares That It’s Not Rape If The Unconscious Women You Trick Into Sleeping With You Isn’t Married

Wow… what?

For way more information on this crazy case than I need to rewrite into this blog post, check out a few of the links included here:

If you want your story from USA Today, click here. If you want to hear from a more local source, you can go to the LA Weekly blogs. And if you want one with a lot of emotional outrage (which I think is well-placed in this instance), you can check out Jezebel.com.

Basically, it comes down to this: An LA-based state appeals court recently overturned a the conviction of a man who raped a woman in her sleep. The victim, who at first thought the man was her boyfriend, tried to stop him once she regain

ed consciousness enough to realize he was an imposter. However, because the woman and her boyfriend are not a married couple, her rapist will walk away without penalty. The court said that its decision is based on an 1872 California law stating that tricking a victim into sex by impersonation counts as rape only if the victim is married.

Yowza! REALLY? Even the court sounded kind of embarrassed about it in their statement.

There are some ridiculous old laws on the California books. For instance, California law prohibits a woman from driving in a housecoat. In Glendale, California, you can only show horror movies on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. And in Hollywood, it is illegal to drive more than 2,000 sheep down Hollywood Boulevard at one time. (Darn, there goes my plans for the weekend!) But most of these laws don’t come into play, are basically disregarded, and don’t really hurt anybody except maybe, you know, some frustrated shepherd with a huge flock of sheep and the desire for them all to see Hollywood.

This law, however, has gotta go.

To that end, I am including a link to a petition on SignOn.org to the California Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown, which says:

Repeal the California law stating that tricking a victim into sex by impersonation counts as rape only if the victim is married, and apply it to all Californians.